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For one lady of St. Jude's Abbey, honor is seductive.

In twelfth-century England, St. Jude's Abbey is no ordinary sanctuary of prayer and ritual. Established by Eleanor of Aquitaine, it trains young women in the knightly arts, as well as martial arts from the East. In times of trouble, these formidable women are called upon to protect the royal family and England. Avisa de Vere is one such woman...

Even behind the abbey walls, Avisa has heard of the conflict between the king and the Archbishop of Canterbury. And the queen has commanded her to keep her majesty's cherished godson, Christian Lovell, from entering the fray.

When Christian "rescues" a damsel in distress on his way to Canterbury, he has no idea the fair-haired beauty was sent to protect him. He has never before known a woman who carries her own broadsword. And when Avisa asks him to help rescue her sister, he has no choice but to follow her.

Avisa soon learns Christian is a knight of great honor and courage — and finds herself weak at his touch. Desire is a battle she was not taught to fight — and the wisest course may be surrender...

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In spite of being raised to play well with others, Jocelyn Kelley has always believed every woman needs to kick some butt sometimes. She learned this in third grade when the boys played soldiers and tried to relegate her to a non-combatant role. Soon she was taking the hill (or at least the playground tree) with them. Her assumption that women could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with men continued when she was offered a Direct Commission to the US Army and served as the first and only woman in her unit.

Jocelyn's been writing “stories” all her life, and, when she decided to write for publication, she wanted to write what she read – historical romance. Why historicals? She explains it as, “I want my heroine to be able to pick up a weapon and use it without having to fill out reams of paperwork as she would in contemporary times. She might not use that weapon, but I want to give her the option to do so.” In other words, a kick-butt heroine.

She found the kick-butt heroines she wanted to write with The Ladies of St. Jude's Abbey series that came to life in her mind while she was walking through Times Square in NYC, Since then, she's written four books in the series. In July 2007, she begins a new series – The Nethercott Tales – the stories of the three Nethercott sisters, who in Regency England are trying to prove that their father's lifelong search for ghosts wasn't in vain. But they never expect that the ghosts will help them stop a murderer or end a thousand year old curse.

In her non-writing life, Jocelyn loves to travel and enjoys music. She was a soloist with a local group of Up With People, but limits her singing now to when nobody else is around.